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Excessive use of pesticides in Kashmir: Research has to offer solutions

19 April 2020

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By: Syed Towseef Ahmad

During reading an article on Ziraat Times on indiscriminate use of pesticides my thoughts were captivated by the effects of pesticides on environment & human beings. My thoughts were also influenced by many reports in this newspaper about fruit growers complaining about ineffective agro chemicals.

In curiosity, I went through the spray schedule of Himachal Pradesh, and, at same time, compared with spray schedule of Kashmir valley. Lot of similarities and differences were noticed. I will not highlight the differences and similarities. However, some interesting inferences can be derived: If we calculate on an average number of pesticide sprays SKUAST-K has recommended is about 16-17 (including need based ones).

As we also know the number of days an apple takes to mature is around 200 days. So using simple calculation (average) we apply pesticides after every 12 days excluding the PGR’s, tonic sprays and unfavourable weather based. That is a lot.

Skipping one particular pesticide can save hundreds of crores of rupees (you will find it in Himachal Pradesh spray schedule). Pests are enough clever to deceive you and the pesticides employed for the same. We are walking on a tight rope.

This average will come further down in future as the indiscriminate use of pesticides is going on. This is alarming situation. It needs to be addressed as early as possible. Blaming nature in later stages is not fair. You can now imagine at what speed this is going on ( as the author in the said Ziraat Times article mentioned it clearly that in our past we were using pesticides once in 2/3 years).

As in the case of Covid 19 pandemic, more emphasis is nowadays on immunity of human system to the virus. Plants too have their defence system and mechanisms, I must say strong defence systems.

Often a person is perplexed by seeing plants’ defence system. Such natural defence mechanisms must be taken into consideration.

One must imagine what would be the aftermath of this indiscriminate use of pesticides besides the social and economic impact.

Kashmir’s spray schedules talk about caution about spraying of same pesticides (warning on repetition), because of resistance or something else which cannot fathom from the warning. However, when we look at spray schedules from previous couple of years same pesticides have often been recommended under different trade names.

Now the question is this: Does a particular pest develop resistance against same pesticides over a number of years or just one season is needed to develop immunity?

If immunity is a reality then are we not playing with a resistant strains? If that is the case then solutions must lie with the researchers. Research must be conducted as early as possible on this matter. Time is not far away when farmers will not be able to take up farming as a profitable profession because their trees may not have any immunity left at all. It is illogical to schedule a spray schedule for a full season in advance because it is based on previous cycles and based on data of previous years.

(The writer has Masters in Plant Breending and is an Extension officer at JKAPD. Email:[email protected])